Nikon D800 / D800E Technical Guide

Feb 19, 2012

Nikon released a technical guide that outlines proper shooting technique with their new D800 series camera. I’m assuming this is to reduce the amount of people who will be dissapointed with the high demands of a 36 megapixel sensor.

The usual sloppy technique that casual SLR shooters have adopted as the norm for years makes it very difficult (if not impossible) to actually get 36 of real resolution from the sensor. Large and most medium format photographers have been shooting on tripods out of necessity for a long time.

The slower approach coupled with the stability of a tripod as well as bigger sensors that put less demands on the optics all help deliver better pixels.

Don’t assume that a 36 megapixel sensor will automatically make your pictures sharper and more detailed. A good tripod that absorbs vibrations (not all of them do), mirror lock up or live view and top notch lenses are an absolute must to get the results you are hoping for. Anything less than that will just produce big files with wasted pixels.

The following guide covers the basics, and keep in mind that all of this holds true even for lower resolution sensors. It’s a waste of money and storage to shoot with a 24mp camera and cheap lenses only to get 12mp of actual resolution in the files. Going to 36mp with the same mindset will be an even bigger waste.

 

Nikon D800 Technical Guide